Daniel Charles

Daniel Charles (27 November 1935, Oran, Algeria — 21 August 2008, Antibes) was a French musician, philosopher, musicologist, liner notes author/translator, writer, and distinguished pedagogue; father of composer and experimental musician Christophe Charles (b. 1964). Daniel was primarily known for his lengthy association with US composer John Cage (seen together in the second photo) and extensive research in the aesthetics of contemporary music. In 1976, Charles and Cage co-authored an acclaimed "Pour les Oiseaux" book, a collection of their conversations (translated in English as "For the Birds" in 1981).

Charles studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, graduating with the First Prize distinction in 1956. He was a student of philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Jean Wahl (1888—1974) and passed the "Agrégation de Philosophie" exams in 1959. Soon after graduation, Daniel Charles joined Pierre Schaeffer's new electro-acoustic research laboratory, GRM. One of his projects was setting Stéphane Mallarmé's "Coup de dés…" 1897 poem onto electronic music, which was noted and praised by Karlheinz Stockhausen at New Music Summer Courses in Darmstadt. His interest in Schaeffer's "solfège des bruits" (studies of noise) didn't last long, though; after meeting John Cage in 1958, Daniel focused on in-depth analysis and conceptualization of the composer's oeuvre. They became closely acquainted, and in the following years, Charles played a crucial role in disseminating Cage's philosophy and music in France.

In 1969, Daniel Charles founded the Department of Music at the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis, serving as its chair for twenty years. He directed the Faculty of Arts, Philosophy & Aesthetics (UFR Arts, Philosophie et Esthétique) from 1980 to 1984, and oversaw the creation of CICM (Centre de Recherche Informatique et Création Musicale, "Center for Computer Music Research") by Horacio Vaggione. Besides his music career, Charles taught General Aesthetics at Paris-Sorbonne University (1970-1980). Daniel earned his PhD in 1977 at Université Paris Nanterre under French philosopher and aesthetician Mikel Dufrenne (1910—1995). He retired as professor emeritus at Université Nice-Sophia-Antipolis in 1999, after serving as the Department of Philosophy's chair of General Aesthetics for ten years.